A word originating in Latin and Greek, meaning to mark the skin with a pointed stick or a hot iron. A tattoo or brand. According to Etymonline, “The figurative meaning “mark of disgrace or infamy which attaches to a person on account of evil conduct” … in English is from 1610s.” In the 1878, John Henry Blunt wrote of being branded with the stigma of illegitimacy. Humans have stigmatized those who are different or strange–the diseased (e.g., leprosy), the different (e.g., the obese), those believed to be morally corrupted (e.g., the LGBTQ community), the misunderstood (e.g., speaking other languages; or the very erudite). Stigma, whether visible or invisible, is a powerful tool of exclusion that hurts. An ugly word for an ugly thing.
